Pauline Whitesinger P.O. Box 1332 Hotevilla, AZ 86030 April 22, 1966 Honorable Senator John McCain, Chairman and Members Senate Committee on Indian Affairs 838 Senate Hart Office Building Washington, DC 20510 fax # 202/228-2862 Dear Honorable Senator John McCain, Chairman and Members, They (the officials) make it seem like our kids from town and outside can't come and visit. I've been suffering all these years. It is getting worse. Another reason, I am being abandoned from this area and cultural traditional ways. This is my ancestral grounds. I don't need to live in all this pain to live here. I am supposed to be happy. But with all these corruptions going on, I am in pain. Another reason, I've done my time. I am more than sixty (60) years old. That is the many years I live here. This is not being recognized and I am being told by Bureau of Indian Affairs officials that the house I live in does not belong to me. My sheep corrals, all corrals around my house, I built myself to carry on my traditional ways. They are saying that all of this is considered not mine. I want the persons passing all these laws and rules, the officials that enforce, I want the main person, members of Congress, to come around and talk face-to-face and talk with me. All this is nonsense. Those rules and regulations from them and enforced by them, the responsible persons must come out here to enforce these laws. For all these reasons, I've got future generations and grandchildren, that is why I say this statement. And all the elders from their communities on HPL hope and would like to come up with a final solution to the land dispute. We have hopes for that. We do not have hope for the 75 year lease Agreement. There is a spiritual circle around us. All these rules and regulations are being brought into. This is not good in our traditional ways. Any rules and regulations created by mankind does not relate in our traditional society. Another thing, our language is being changed. Our young ones are forgetting about our language. In our ceremonies we have traditional names for our Spiritual God. We have to use our language in our traditional ceremonies. Our language is a very important part of our life. We speak our language and have spiritual protection in our culture. Honorable Senator John McCain, Chairman and Members Senate Committee on Indian Affairs Page 2 And even as I talk, all the spiritual people are watching, the trees, the dirt, Mother Earth itself, the sky, the universe, and other beings are all spiritual beings that watch as I speak right now. Black Mesa is the female God, the female mountain. In our culture It cannot be disrupted in any way, for any reason. It provides us with all the necessitates we need for our life to survive. It only carries the good things, not the bad stuff, in life to make a good life. And hopefully with this statement you will consider and recognize me. If you ever read my statement, I thank you for it. a WHY CONGRESS MUST READ THE AGREEMENT Congress believes that the only issue left for negotiation is the length of tenure for the It is apparent that numerous termination clauses cited in the Agreement provide a legal means for our eviction by the Hopi Tribal Council. For example: If the Navajo Nation fails to pay rent for Dineh living on HPL, the "Agreement" is terminated without recourse effective immediately, contingent upon a 30-day period elapsing after written demand for payment to the Navajo Nation. No back-up is given in case the Navajo Nation fails to pay rent. We pray that you stop this policy of Genocide and Ethnic cleansing upon residents of HPL. Please recommend that violations of HPL residents Constitutional rights be heard before the Supreme Court. Is it not time finally for justice to be served? Honorable Senator John McCain, Chairman and Members Senate Committee on Indian Affairs 838 Senate Hart Office Building Washington, DC 20510 fax # 202/228-2862 April Dear Senator John McCain and Members of the Senate Commitee on Indian Affairs, IMPROPER NOTICE AND OPPORTUNITY GIVEN HPL residents of the former Joint Use Area (JUA), recently called Hopi Partition Land (HPL) need your understanding and your help. They have been denied adequate Notice and Opportunity. They were given only 9 days notice of Oversight hearings rescheduled to Washington, DC, a location thousands of miles away from where they live, on March 28, 1996. No previous attempts were made to notify them in person, by notice at the Trading Post, and by mail, even though they still believed that an Oversight hearing would be conducted in Phoenix, AZ, May or June, 1996. EXTENSION OF PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD GRANTED UNTIL APRIL 26, 1996 We understand that Steve Heeley, your Staff Director and Counsel was at Mae Tso's hogan on Hopi Partition Land (HPL), April 10, 1996. At that time he stated: "HPL residents are granted on the record, a two-week extension of the public comment period." The public comment period previously scheduled to end April 11, 1996 is now extended to April 26, 1996. We request that the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs honor this promise. Steve Heeley said that the Navajo Nation was given four weeks notice about the April 10, .1996 visit, yet they provided no iternary as requested, did not attend the meeting held at the Hopi Day School and failed to notify HPL residents. We further request that Congress delay their vote on the Senate floor, and allow the public comment period to be extended until an Oversight hearing is conducted on HPL, June, 1996. If this does not occur, we request that the Senate Committee recommend that this case be heard before the U.S. Supreme Court. Congress must hear the voice of the people. |